7 Cities Transforming Their Rivers From Blights to Beauties

Los Angeles wants to rethink its river. Late last month, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that Gruen Associates, Mia Lehrer + Associates, and Oyler Wu would be designing the last twelve miles of the Los Angeles River Valley Bikeway and Greenway. The scheme, encompassing a new bike, trail, and park network from Canoga Park, in the San Fernando Valley to Elysian Valley just outside Downtown, is the latest of several initiatives set to transform the former flood control channel into an actual river. The city, county, and federal government are reshaping the river and restoring ecosystems; several parks, trails, and amenities have already popped up; and development is following quickly behind. And LA isn’t the only metropolis looking to reclaim its once-mocked waterway. Cities around the world are realizing that water can be a cultural and recreational asset, not something to hide or pillage, and it seems no waterway will be wasted for long.

01

Chicago

The Chicago River was once so full of sewage that in the late 19th century Illinois built a series of canals to actually reverse its flow away from Lake Michigan, to prevent it from contaminating the city’s water supply. More than 100 years later the city launched the Chicago River Corridor Development Plan, a measure laying out new trails, parks, boathouses, overlooks, and the just-opened Chicago Riverwalk, a pedestrian promenade along six blocks between State Street and Lake Street. With design led by Sasaki Associates and Ross Barney Architects, each block takes on a different river typology. Marina Plaza, for instance, includes restaurants and outdoor seating, while The Cove has kayak rentals and docks for watercraft. The final piece, the Jetty, a series of piers and floating wetland gardens, opens this fall.

Credit: Kate Joyce

The Chicago River was once so full of sewage that in the late 19th century Illinois built a series of canals to actually reverse its flow away from Lake Michigan, to prevent it from contaminating the city’s water supply. More than 100 years later the city launched the Chicago River Corridor Development Plan, a measure laying out new trails, parks, boathouses, overlooks, and the just-opened Chicago Riverwalk, a pedestrian promenade along six blocks between State Street and Lake Street. With design led by Sasaki Associates and Ross Barney Architects, each block takes on a different river typology. Marina Plaza, for instance, includes restaurants and outdoor seating, while The Cove has kayak rentals and docks for watercraft. The final piece, the Jetty, a series of piers and floating wetland gardens, opens this fall.

02

Oklahoma City

In the 1920s and 30s, the US Army Corps of Engineers rerouted the North Canadian River around downtownOklahoma City, to avoid flooding. The result was a marshy watercourse that locals liked to joke about mowing instead of rowing. A $53-million project completed in 2004 rejuvenated the stretch, creating the seven-mile, dam-controlled body of water whose name was then changed to the Oklahoma River. Since then, a one-cent sales tax initiative has funded additional enhancements to the river and its surrounding Boathouse District. Master planned by local architecture firm Rand Elliot + Associates, the area includes walkways, performance spaces, shopping, and angular glass and steel boathouses. The newest feature, an 11-acre whitewater kayaking and rafting site known as RiverSports Rapids, opened this spring.

Credit: Rick Morris

In the 1920s and 30s, the US Army Corps of Engineers rerouted the North Canadian River around downtownOklahoma City, to avoid flooding. The result was a marshy watercourse that locals liked to joke about mowing instead of rowing. A $53-million project completed in 2004 rejuvenated the stretch, creating the seven-mile, dam-controlled body of water whose name was then changed to the Oklahoma River. Since then, a one-cent sales tax initiative has funded additional enhancements to the river and its surrounding Boathouse District. Master planned by local architecture firm Rand Elliot + Associates, the area includes walkways, performance spaces, shopping, and angular glass and steel boathouses. The newest feature, an 11-acre whitewater kayaking and rafting site known as RiverSports Rapids, opened this spring.

03

Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh is historically most famous for two things: The three rivers that bisect it— the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio—and its legendary steel industry. After industry decamped from the river in the 1980s it left behind brownfields, elevated highways, retaining walls, and soil and water contamination that created a less-than-idyllic setting. In the early 2000s, the city’s Riverlife Task Force helped draft a master plan to create the Three Rivers Park loop, encompassing 13 connected miles of parks, trails and riverside amenities. Since then more than 80 percent of the area has been redeveloped and improved for public use. The next major step is a 20-block riverfront park in the city’s Strip District. (Named not for strip clubs, but after the strip of produce wholesale warehouses along the Allegheny River.)

Credit: Maranie Rae

Pittsburgh is historically most famous for two things: The three rivers that bisect it— the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio—and its legendary steel industry. After industry decamped from the river in the 1980s it left behind brownfields, elevated highways, retaining walls, and soil and water contamination that created a less-than-idyllic setting. In the early 2000s, the city’s Riverlife Task Force helped draft a master plan to create the Three Rivers Park loop, encompassing 13 connected miles of parks, trails and riverside amenities. Since then more than 80 percent of the area has been redeveloped and improved for public use. The next major step is a 20-block riverfront park in the city’s Strip District. (Named not for strip clubs, but after the strip of produce wholesale warehouses along the Allegheny River.)

04

Medellin, Colombia

Medellin, a once broken city that has already reinvented itself through innovative urban projects like parks, squares, an aerial tram, and a green belt, is now completely rethinking its river. Like so many others, that waterway was channeled in concrete in the 1950s, a highway built right next to it. But now, following a competition-winning plan by Latitude, Workshop of Architecture and City, the city is burying a 1,300-foot-long stretch of that highway and building a park (Parques del Rio Medellin) on top, providing recreation and re-connecting the river to the rest of the city.

Credit: Parques Del Rio Medellin

Medellin, a once broken city that has already reinvented itself through innovative urban projects like parks, squares, an aerial tram, and a green belt, is now completely rethinking its river. Like so many others, that waterway was channeled in concrete in the 1950s, a highway built right next to it. But now, following a competition-winning plan by Latitude, Workshop of Architecture and City, the city is burying a 1,300-foot-long stretch of that highway and building a park (Parques del Rio Medellin) on top, providing recreation and re-connecting the river to the rest of the city.

05

New York

New York’s once ridiculously-polluted East River and Hudson waterfronts were long considered great places… to dump bodies. After transforming the banks on all sides over the last two decades with riverfront parks and paths, the city is further reimagining them through several new initiatives, including BIG’s Big U, a 10-mile-long protective system of landscaping and barriers around Manhattan that double as public space. But the most ambitious foray into the water itself is Family’s Plus Pool, a plus-shaped structure floating in the East River, filtering river water for swimming through a three-level purifying system. Final site selection is set to be announced later this year, and completion is set for 2019. Cities around the world are now shouting for similar facilities.

Credit: Family

New York’s once ridiculously-polluted East River and Hudson waterfronts were long considered great places… to dump bodies. After transforming the banks on all sides over the last two decades with riverfront parks and paths, the city is further reimagining them through several new initiatives, including BIG’s Big U, a 10-mile-long protective system of landscaping and barriers around Manhattan that double as public space. But the most ambitious foray into the water itself is Family’s Plus Pool, a plus-shaped structure floating in the East River, filtering river water for swimming through a three-level purifying system. Final site selection is set to be announced later this year, and completion is set for 2019. Cities around the world are now shouting for similar facilities.

06

San Antonio

You can’t mention river revitalization without mentioning San Antonio. Like LA, the oft-flooded San Antonio River in the 1920s was replaced (again, by the US Army Corps of Engineers) with a concrete lined “flood bypass channel”—essentially a storm sewer. But unlike LA, work on beautifying it started shortly afterward. By 1937 the San Antonio River Authority had begun building the River Walk, or Paseo del Rio, which over the next several decades added parks, walkways, gardens, restaurants, shops, and other attractions. While the most famous portion of the River Walk is the 2.5 mile stretch through downtown, the River Authority has continuously expanded the project, which now stretches 15 miles. The most recent effort is the $271 million Mission Reach Ecosystem Restoration and Recreation Project, transforming an eight mile stretch north of downtown with 15 miles of trails, restored native habitats, and amenities like benches, shade structures, bridges, and picnic benches.

Credit: Paseo Del Rio Association

You can’t mention river revitalization without mentioning San Antonio. Like LA, the oft-flooded San Antonio River in the 1920s was replaced (again, by the US Army Corps of Engineers) with a concrete lined “flood bypass channel”—essentially a storm sewer. But unlike LA, work on beautifying it started shortly afterward. By 1937 the San Antonio River Authority had begun building the River Walk, or Paseo del Rio, which over the next several decades added parks, walkways, gardens, restaurants, shops, and other attractions. While the most famous portion of the River Walk is the 2.5 mile stretch through downtown, the River Authority has continuously expanded the project, which now stretches 15 miles. The most recent effort is the $271 million Mission Reach Ecosystem Restoration and Recreation Project, transforming an eight mile stretch north of downtown with 15 miles of trails, restored native habitats, and amenities like benches, shade structures, bridges, and picnic benches.

07

Los Angeles

The Valley Bikeway and Greenway project includes bike paths, shade devices, pedestrian walkways, landscaped areas, and educational signage. The biggest challenge, points out Gruen Associates partner Debra Gerod, is connecting existing paths in places they couldn’t be built originally, like under freeways and near bridges. It’s just the tip of the iceberg for the 51-mile LA River. The federal government and the city plan to invest over a billion dollars to reclaim an 11.5 mile stretch of the waterway, from Griffith Park to downtown, hoping to terrace walls, widen stretches, restore natural habitats, and open up riverbanks for recreation, following the guidelines of the LA Bureau of Engineering’s 2007 Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan, created by TetraTech, Civitas, Wenk, and Mia Lehrer + Associates.Frank Gehry and his firm Gehry Partners is working with the nonprofit L.A. River Revitalization Corp to transform the river into what one of their displays described as a “linear Central Park.” It’s unclear if this still-in-research-stage scheme will conflict with existing plans

Credit: Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering

The Valley Bikeway and Greenway project includes bike paths, shade devices, pedestrian walkways, landscaped areas, and educational signage. The biggest challenge, points out Gruen Associates partner Debra Gerod, is connecting existing paths in places they couldn’t be built originally, like under freeways and near bridges. It’s just the tip of the iceberg for the 51-mile LA River. The federal government and the city plan to invest over a billion dollars to reclaim an 11.5 mile stretch of the waterway, from Griffith Park to downtown, hoping to terrace walls, widen stretches, restore natural habitats, and open up riverbanks for recreation, following the guidelines of the LA Bureau of Engineering’s 2007 Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan, created by TetraTech, Civitas, Wenk, and Mia Lehrer + Associates.Frank Gehry and his firm Gehry Partners is working with the nonprofit L.A. River Revitalization Corp to transform the river into what one of their displays described as a “linear Central Park.” It’s unclear if this still-in-research-stage scheme will conflict with existing plans